"S&M Sex Case Returns to Court"

S&M sex master John Hopkins appeared in court this week and will proceed to trial next month. Hopkins, 45, was arrested in February after allegations arose that he had enslaved a 27-year-old woman who had responded to his Craigslist ad for S&M sex and then traveled from Wisconsin to Williamsburg to live with him free of rent.

Hopkins, an audio engineer, is charged with dozens of felony and misdemeanor sex crimes, including rape in the first degree.

The victim, who did not show up to court earlier this year, reportedly admitted that the initial encounter with Hopkins was consensual and that the two had an online correspondence before she came to Brooklyn. However, after living in his Williamsburg apartment for a week in February, the victim reportedly called her mother, who contacted the NYPD.

Police found the victim chained to a radiator and curled in a fetal position in Hopkins’ apartment.

Kings County Supreme Court Justice Patricia Di Mango said that despite evidence from both sides that the sex may have been consensual, the question is if the victim ever said “no.” Di Mango, however, did release the defendant from jail on his own recognizance pending trial, which is set to begin on Sept. 20.

Trial was delayed in June because the victim had left the city and was unavailable to testify, according to reports. Prosecutors from the Kings County District Attorney’s office were reportedly unsure of her whereabouts. The woman reportedly had a blood-alcohol level two-and-a-half times the legal limit four hours after she made a police report claiming she was being held as a sex slave, a defense lawyer said.

Hopkins’ attorney, Andrew Stoll, had said that Hopkins and the woman knew each other for two years and had a consensual relationship. The woman even wanted to return to the apartment after Hopkins kicked her out for excessive drinking, Stoll said.

“It stretches credibility beyond the breaking point to say that from the get-go she was being held against her will,” Stoll said. “I cannot imagine there will be a conviction here.”